Do you want to exercise regularly on the home trainer? Do you want to ditch the car more often and ride your e-bike to work instead? As simple as these resolutions may sound, they can sometimes be difficult to realise. Whether it's rainy days, a full working week or a flu-like infection: when external adversities or distractions arise, many people lose motivation. Yet perseverance is like a muscle that you can train - with a few skilful tricks. We'll show you how to keep at it, even when the going gets tough.
To beat your own laziness, you first need to understand one thing: Humans are lazy by nature. "Due to evolution, our body tends to work as energy-efficiently as possible," explains sports mental trainer Alexandra Albert. The reason lies in our genes: Our Stone Age ancestors only moved when it was absolutely necessary for food procurement, reproduction or defence - otherwise they went into energy-saving mode and rested. In the modern world, our living conditions rarely require movement - after all, there are no longer any sabre-toothed tigers lurking on our doorstep and the hunt for dinner usually ends in front of the fridge. Nevertheless, exercise has many positive effects on our health: regular pedalling improves the pumping function of the heart, strengthens muscles and brightens our mood. According to experts, just 30 minutes of cycling three to five days a week can significantly improve your well-being. So how do you trick your inner Stone Age man - and how do you integrate more sport into your everyday life in the long term? Mental trainer Alexandra Albert advises that the first thing to do is to look at your motives for exercising (see box). Do I enjoy cycling intrinsically or am I primarily motivated by the social interaction in my sports club? Am I more performance-orientated - or do I feel the greatest enthusiasm when I can lead others? Diagnostic tests from sports psychology can be used to find out which type of motivation you are. For amateur athletes and leisure cyclists, however, simple reflection is just as sufficient. Albert recommends: "Write down five reasons why you love your sport!"
Use the results of your reflection as an opportunity to adapt your training routines. In practice, this means that while performance-orientated athletes are best off setting themselves both small and large goals (increasing the number of kilometres per week, taking part in a cycling marathon), for the social type, making appointments helps them to overcome their inner pig. Incidentally, most people are mixed types, explains Albert - two types usually predominate.
Positive thinking is not enough
But be warned: no matter what type of motivator you are, Alexandra Albert, you will encounter stumbling blocks and motivational holes. "External factors such as the weather and coronavirus rules or internal factors such as effort and pain make it difficult to persevere," says Albert. "Think positive!" is often the well-intentioned advice from friends. However, positive thinking is of little help in overcoming hurdles. Studies by the renowned psychologist Gabriele Oettingen from New York University show that The more positively test subjects thought about achieving a goal, the less likely they were to achieve it.
The psychologist and her team set out to find the reasons for this. In their studies, they observed the following: When people were instructed to think positively, their energy levels automatically dropped - this could be determined by their low blood pressure, for example. People relaxed, leant back inwardly and felt as if they had already achieved their goal. Oettingen's conclusion: Those who only dream positively about the future have no energy to then actually realise things. Oettingen then developed the method of "mental contrasting", which she also presents in her book "The Psychology of Success". This involves contrasting a wish with the real obstacles - in the form of a total of four steps: Firstly, you define the wish that is really close to your heart (such as a multi-day cycle tour). Then you visualise the best possible outcome (a crossing of the Alps). Then take a step back and ask yourself: What is stopping me from achieving this goal? Once you have specified the obstacle, think about what you can do to overcome it. If you used to prefer to watch TV in the evening instead of training for your Alpine crossing, you can now put your packed sports bag right next to the sofa. If you don't like being surprised by rainy weather in the morning, check the weather forecast the evening before and put your rain trousers by the front door. "Concrete if-then plans can help you change your behaviour," says Alexandra Albert. The mental trainer knows many other tricks for getting out of motivational ruts - from a small reward after training to a motivational boost from music (see box). The most important thing, however, is to regularly realise the "why". Only those who know why they cycle to the office in the pouring rain or defy sore muscles during training will ultimately achieve their goal: sticking with it.
"Humans are lazy by nature. Due to evolution, our body tends to work as energy-efficiently as possible."
